Climbing further up the depth chart, the time now comes to take a closer look at Niklas Hjalmarsson, who did alright as far as most people were concerned.
Regular Season – 81GP, 4G, 22A, 26P, +11, +.25 BTN, 53.3% Corsi For, +29.8% CorsiRel
Playoffs –19GP, 0G, 4A, 4Pts, -3, Even BTN, 46.7% Corsi For, +30.7% CorsiRel
Yep, that’s Dad.
Going to take a break from player reviews today for some more Friday goofiness. With Father’s Day this weekend, I thought I’d provide my father George a gift by sharing his writing with those of you who are interested. Though he was about as self-deprecating as a person as there could be, Dad was never shy about boasting about his writing. And neither am I.
I know a lot of you come here for the analysis or the music/Simpsons references or the creative swearing (and we’re proud of that), but some do come for the style and writing we use (which we still find strange but to each his or her own). My father George was the back-page columnist for Billiards Digest for over 30 years, and even though I’m obviously a little biased I think I can still safely say he was one of the best sportswriters I have ever read. You don’t have to know anything about pool or billiards to enjoy it, which I think is about the highest compliment you can pay. My brother (writer for CubsDen on ChicagoNow.com if you didn’t know) and I constantly reach for this standard, knowing full well we’ll never come into the same zip code as Dad.
The Digest has catalogued the last few years of his columns as well as his best work from his entire career, and you can get to that right here. However, there is one column that’s always been one of my favorites that isn’t on there, so I’m going to share it with you below.
Yep, that’s Dad.
Going to take a break from player reviews today for some more Friday goofiness. With Father’s Day this weekend, I thought I’d provide my father George a gift by sharing his writing with those of you who are interested. Though he was about as self-deprecating as a person as there could be, Dad was never shy about boasting about his writing. And neither am I.
I know a lot of you come here for the analysis or the music/Simpsons references or the creative swearing (and we’re proud of that), but some do come for the style and writing we use (which we still find strange but to each his or her own). My father George was the back-page columnist for Billiards Digest for over 30 years, and even though I’m obviously a little biased I think I can still safely say he was one of the best sportswriters I have ever read. You don’t have to know anything about pool or billiards to enjoy it, which I think is about the highest compliment you can pay. My brother (writer for CubsDen on ChicagoNow.com if you didn’t know) and I constantly reach for this standard, knowing full well we’ll never come into the same zip code as Dad.
The Digest has catalogued the last few years of his columns as well as his best work from his entire career, and you can get to that right here. However, there is one column that’s always been one of my favorites that isn’t on there, so I’m going to share it with you below.
Can Hank do it again? CBC
2C: Globe and Mail
The Summer wind: Hockeenight
Seabass said that? PuckDaddy
You’re Welcome: Chicago Tribune
Let’s go for a twofer today, and ramp up the importance. It’s one thing to go through your bottom pairing platoon, who in the end you’d rather just not notice. But these guys matter, and may matter in other ways this offseason. So let’s do it.
Regular Season: 82 games, 7 goals, 24 assists, 31 points, +10, -0.02 Behind The Net, 14.86 Corsi/60 (+3.4 Corsi Relative/60)
Playoffs: 18 games, 1 goal, 4 assists, 5 points, -3, -1.66 Behind The Net, 3.39 Corsi/60 (+8.3 Corsi Relative/60)
What We Liked: It’s a well known fact at this point that me and Jen LC have a huge Leddy crush. Those numbers in the regular season came with three rotating partners (rotating pies!) all season. Though they also came with pretty heavily tilted zone starts, as Leds started 63% of his shifts in the offensive zone. But for most of the year, Leddy was a possession driver, a one-man trap-buster who really started to feel his oats in the middle of the year by pushing with his wheels up the ice. Outside of Kane doing Kane things, there are few more exciting moments watching the Hawks than when Leddy kicks it into gear through the zone. His four power play goals were more than Keith’s, even though Leddy ran the second unit and got less time despite being the superior PP QB. Oh, and that goal in Game 2 against LA… it portends to so much.
Rolling right along into the bottom pairing. Oh, I’ve ignored David Rundblad because he played like three games so who knows? And Michael Kostka isn’t here anymore.
Regular Season: 42 games, 1 goal, 7 assists, 8 points, +7, -0.53 Behind The Net, 17.83 Corsi/60 (+3.4 Corsi Relative)
Playoffs: 17 games, 1 goal, 5 assists, 6 points, -2, -0.32 Behind The Net, 5.62 Corsi/60 (+11.9 Corsi Relative)
What We Liked: You know what’s funny? Before we get too deep into the players, it’s odd what a small Corsi number in the playoffs ends up being a plus number in the relative category. It shows you just how much the Hawks struggled in the playoffs and maybe were a bit fortunate to get where they were. Anywho…
Welcome Dr. Rasmussen: Chicago Tribune
He won’t dress: Chicago SunTimes
We all do it: Daily Herald
Let the rumors begin: NESN
Holy crap they hired outside of the Organ-I-zation: TSN
Help! 538
Regular Season: 48 games, 2 goals, 5 assists, 7 points, +2, -0.16 Behind The Net, 3.28 Corsi/60 (-10.1 Corsi Relative).
Quick note for those somewhat new here. Behind The Net Rating is the difference in the team’s goals-for and goals-against for every 60 minutes the player in on the ice versus every 60 he’s off. Corsi Relative is the player’s Corsi number relative to the team’s overall rate.
Playoffs: 7 games, 2 assists, 2 points, +3, o.21 Behind The Net Rating, -4.98 Corsi (-7.5 Corsi Relative)
What We Liked: When talking about your 6-7 d-man, it’s not so much what you liked as what you didn’t hate. And for the most part, Brookbank didn’t provide much to hate. In a lot of ways and for a lot of the season he was more effective than Rozsvial, though he didn’t play as regularly and was perhaps as screwed as anyone by the insistence on eight defensemen for reasons we’ve yet to hear. Brookbank was solid enough. He wasn’t fast but didn’t get chased down as much as he did the year before. His work with the puck, especially in the playoffs, was far more assured. His play during Seabrook’s suspension in the first round was a real surprise when we were hiding behind the couch. Didn’t do anything spectacular or even great, but considering what he is I didn’t think there was anything that bad.
